One of the biggest initiatives in the area of higher education in Bihar has been the inception of Chandragupta Institute of Management last year with the support and guidance of IIM Ahmadabad. Bihar has many other management institutes like LN Mishra, Patna University Management Dept, and in the pre partition days of Bihar /Jharkhand XLRI and XISS were also part of higher education landscape. Over the years the number of aspirants for Management and other professional courses have steadily picked up in Bihar and today more than 30,000-40,000 aspirants from Bihar appear for various post graduate courses. Given the spurt in demand and the available talent pool, the need for an academic institute of repute with world class faculty and infrastructure support was much desired.

This year CIMP has enrolled around 50 students for its inaugural batch and has been making very encouraging process over the few academic session. Students from diverse background have been given intense exposure to the discipline of general management and industry orientation by the dedicated team of faculty , visiting subject matter experts from best B –Schools and Senior Industry professionals. The most encouraging theme of this group has been their sheer commitment and drive to excel and take up entrepreneur projects in Bihar. Many of them have great ideas and business acumen to undertake social entrepreneur activity and generate multiple avenues of employment and wealth creation.

CIMP has also taken initiative to collaborate with UNESCO and signed a cooperation agreement to jointly address the emerging challenges to human civilization and for the creation of a knowledge society to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth in the country. Both UNESCO and CIMP aim to create a platform to experiment with innovations in collaborative research and development, and to synergize scientific knowledge and management perspectives on the emerging challenges of environment and development.

CIMP has also collaborated with Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow, promoted by NABARD, enables the institute to be one of the four Research centres of BIRD in micro–finance in India. This centre will cover micro - finance related studies in eastern India.

It’s also setting up state-of-the art library resource centre which is expected to set a new benchmark for the existing libraries in the state. The library has an impressive strategy for its activities in physical infrastructure and world class academic content.

Here’s a small CIMP intro video which my friend film maker Nitin Chandra (Bring back Bihar) has come up with.

Visit the CIMP site to read more details.

CIMP (Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna) was formally inaugurated by Vice-president Mohd Hamid Ansari .The dawn of a new era in benighted Bihar with the opening of Chandragupt Institute of Management (CIM), being developed on the pattern of Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad.

"Bihar has been a land of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship and wealth creation have been the ancient themes in this state," Ansari said while inaugurating the institute here on Wednesday. He hoped this institute would promote this ancient, yet thoroughly modern, virtue.

The institute, being developed with monetary support from the government, is due to start its session from July. However, chief minister Nitish Kumar said there would be no government interference.

The first batch would have 60 students for the PG management course. It is mandatory to have 50% of the students from Bihar. Institute director Mukunda Das, who has been selected on advice from IIM-Ahmedabad, has already completed the admission procedure. CIMP has started the journey towards its goal with the launch of its flagship programme — Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration — a two year fully residential programme for graduates of any discipline desirous of a career in management.

The need for this B-school was felt from a long time, even though Bihar accounts for more than 8% of India’s population, it houses just 0.8% of all the management schools across the country. There are just 1,050 seats for MBA or PGDBA studies in Bihar as against around 95,000 nationally. This makes Bihar the state with the lowest number of PG seats per lakh of population among all Indian states with management institutes.

Reflecting on these numbers, the working group of NKC opined, “There appears to be a correlation between the number of schools in a state and its economic and industrial development. The regional imbalances in development and the creation of capacity for management education in the state are probably related.”

One of the main objectives of the institute is to help in economic and industrial development of Bihar, while fulfilling its role of training management professionals nationally.

Bihar has made significant progress in scaling upto the challenges of improving the education system in the state. At the grass root level radio’s in Bihar are playing English tutorials for the kids in the interior villages to learn the nuances of the language .

Now I can say 'welcome', 'thank you' and even write small sentences," said Rajesh. It's an achievement for a boy who belongs to a landless farmer's family and speaks the Maghi dialect at home.

The programme covers nearly six million primary school students in 37 districts in the state and is broadcast through radio sets in government schools. "English for Fun" was launched by the Bihar government in December last year at a cost of Rs 40 million in collaboration with a Bangalore-based NGO, Education Development Centre, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

On the other hand Higher and technical education in Bihar is showing encouraging action. Graduates of IIM-A have charted a course and are helping the government of Bihar to set up CIMP management institute in Patna with support from IIM-A faculty members.

Director, CIMP, V Mukundadas, stated that IIM-A has agreed in principle to support CIMP with its technical expertise in setting up the library, although a formal announcement is yet to be made by the authorities in this regard. Professor Piyush Kumar Sinha, chairman, placement committee at IIM-A, is one of the key members involved in the shaping up of CIMP.

Chandragupta Institute of Management (CIMP), Patna, is contemplating to establish a world class library at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore soon. This state-of-the art library resource centre is expected to set a new benchmark for the existing libraries in the state.

CIMP director V Mukundadas told TOI that to begin with the library will be allocated about 5,000 square feet area on its new campus, but it has a long term plan of its expansion into a spacious and independent building. The collection planned to be housed in the library will reflect the most current global, national and industry-focused information in the form of books, periodicals, magazines, CD/DVD and newsletters.

In another significant move which could set the example for others to follow our Political leaders are setting the right example by contributing funds for the development of their Alma Mater Patna University.

Patna Science College has produced a galaxy of eminent personalities occupying top positions in different walks of life. And, at least some of them have shown their affection for the institution they studied and have contributed their mite for its development.

PU geology teacher and former Rajya Sabha member Ranjan Yadav donated more than Rs 30 lakh from MP's fund for the construction of geological museum-cum-auditorium. Most of the conferences and seminars organised by different departments of PU are held in this auditorium.

Quite recently, the second floor of an examination hall of Science College was constructed and furnished with the generous contribution of Anita Sharma, wife of Late Chandrashekhar Sharma, a renowned mathematician and an alumnus of the college. Sharma donated a sum of about Rs 25 lakh for the construction of the hall, said college principal S N Guha.

More recently, during the annual meeting of the College Alumni Association, chief minister Nitish Kumar, also an alumnus of the college, agreed to release Rs 1 crore from the public exchequer for the repair of its gymnasium and for the construction of a conference hall. Urban development minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, also an alumnus of the college, also agreed to provide land for the construction of the association building.